


The Calm Before

by captainoflifeandlemons



Category: Tides (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, I know that makes this sound like that one Firefly episode but it's not I promise, Melissa and Erickson are baking pals I guess, Pre-Episode One, Space cake, mentions of Ricketts; Erickson; Marian; and Martinez, some light death jokes with Montague because I'm terrible, the Stribog crew loves Fred a lot but Fred is terrible at recognizing affection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-23
Updated: 2018-09-23
Packaged: 2019-07-16 01:05:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16075148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainoflifeandlemons/pseuds/captainoflifeandlemons
Summary: Twenty hours before Dr. Fred Eurus takes a drop ship to the surface of Fons, her colleagues prepare a small surprise for her.





	The Calm Before

A sun rose, yawning its way across the world that slept, vast and vacant, below. The dawn was arbitrary here on Voltaris, just as it is on Earth; stars are always rising, always falling. No one stirred in the light—there was no one to stir. But the star illuminated more than the planet, its warmth touching on the surface of satellites natural and unnatural, glinting through the windows of a ship, settling at last like an even dust across the features of a woman pressed against a porthole with eyes for nothing but one of Voltaris’ moons.

Dr. Winnifred Eurus was not big on sight-seeing. Starlight was typically lost on her. But she had traveled far enough, worked hard enough, that she could allow herself this moment of contemplation. Tomorrow (whatever loose, arbitrary meaning “tomorrow” even held here) she would be down on the surface below, looking up. Or not looking up, more likely. Quiet thought was barely an acceptable indulgence at a time like this, when everything was already checked and double-checked and there was nothing more she could do to prepare. Once she was in the submarine on Fons’ surface, drifting through the alien sea of a moon untouched by terran biology, she wouldn’t have a moment to spare on scanning the skies for signs of her ship.

“Are you sure you won’t need my help down there?”

Enough daydreaming. “Stevens, if you ask me that one more time, I’ll feed you to the bio samples,” Fred said.

“That’s a little unreasonable,” he responded, but he didn’t seem keen to push the point any further. “Melissa sent me to come find you.”

Fred huffed. “Did Melissa _actually_ send you to come find me, or did Montague send you and tell you to say Melissa because he knew I wouldn’t come otherwise?”

Stevens cast her a wounded look. “That was one time. Yes, she actually sent me.”

One eyebrow raised, Fred waited.

“...alright, she and Montague, but I swear Melissa is there too.”

“This better not be some sort of pre-expedition celebration nonsense,” she said sharply as she followed her colleague down the corridor. “I told everyone that there’s no reason to celebrate until I’m back on the ship and we’ve actually _done_ the world-changing science.”

Stevens rounded a corner, heading towards the ship’s living quarters instead of the labs like Fred had expected. “Don’t worry, we all know better than to annoy you with something like that, especially on this significant of an occasion.”

“Oh. Right. Good.” Fred felt an unexpected pang of disappointment, but quickly brushed over it with several layers of irritation, mostly directed inwards. “In that case, what ungodly conspiracy could those two possibly require my involvement in? It’s not—there’s nothing _wrong_ , is there? I’m still set for departure in twenty hours?”

“Everything’s fine! But the closer we get to your, uh, away mission, the busier everyone’s going to be. Melissa wanted to talk to you before it all got hectic and Montague...invited himself.”

“Of course he did.” She sighed as they took another turn, this one leading to the galley. Melissa rose to greet her as Stevens took a seat by Montague, who was sprawled across the table.

“Well,” Melissa began with a slight smile, “how are you feeling?”

“A little bit like I just walked into a trap, but if you’re talking about Fons, fine.” Fred was starting to think that maybe she should feel a little less fine; everyone else seemed to be making it out to be a bigger deal than she thought—and it’s not like she thought it was even remotely a _small_ deal. “It’s a little early for my pep talk, isn’t it? You’re the one doing the landing tomorrow. You’ve got plenty of time.”

“I wouldn’t want to deprive the captain of the pleasure. He’s been working hard on his motivational speaking lately. But Martinez says you shouldn’t eat anything right before getting on the drop ship, so this is the only opportunity I’ll have to give you this.” As she spoke, Melissa withdrew a plate from the fridge.

Fred eyed it with trepidation. “Thanks, I’ve always wanted a...potentially edible brown blob.”

“It’s a definitely edible brown blob,” Montague put in helpfully.

“It’s the closest Melissa and Erickson could get to a cake with our extremely limited baking supplies,” Stevens explained, _actually_ helpfully. “Again, not a celebration, I promise. More of a trial run—Erickson wanted Melissa’s help getting the recipe down before Marian’s birthday.”

Setting the plate down on the corner of the table farthest from Montague, Melissa went back to fetch a knife. “They’re still in the lab, or they’d be here. Don’t worry, we both tested it earlier; it tastes better than it looks.”

“I’m not really a cake person,” Fred said, sitting down.

Montague perked up. “ _I’m_ a cake person. That’s why I’m here.” He leaned over to snatch a pinch of the bread-like substance, but Fred elbowed him out of the way.

“Hands off! I didn’t say I wasn’t going to eat it.”

“I promised Martinez a small slice, but there should be some left, Robert.” Melissa cut a piece for the doctor and passed the rest to the geologist. “Just don’t tell the rest of the crew.”

He put one hand on his heart as he held the other aloft, balancing the cake. “I swear on my life, Stevens will never hear about this.”

“ _Hey!_ ”

“He helped clean up the kitchen, so he already got to try it,” Melissa said.

Fred smirked. “Maybe keep the stakes a little lower next time, Montague.”

“Please. I’d like to see death try and find me way out here.” Montague, unwilling to take the few steps necessary obtain a utensil of some sort, plucked a mouthful of cake from the dish and swallowed it. “Oh, not bad! Not bad at all, Dr. Wang. My compliments to to Erickson. Hmm—Marian’s birthday, you said? Isn’t _that_ interesting?”

“No.” Melissa sat down next to Fred. Stevens scooted towards them both while making a face at Montague, who was still absorbed in sampling the desert. “Well, Dr. Eurus? What’s your professional opinion?”

The biologist took a bite, but she her mind wasn’t on the flavor. And for the first time in several hours, it wasn’t on Fons, either. Stevens and Montague began bickering about frosting (the cake had none; mimicking the baked good in question had been difficult enough). Melissa waited for the verdict, head tilted slightly, with an expression that almost made Fred believe she truly cared what the answer might be. Somewhere across the ship, Ricketts was pacing up and down with a course chart in hand while Erickson ran and reran calculations. Martinez slept; Marian jogged down a corridor; all throughout the microcosm of the _Stribog_ , the crew carried out their daily routines, but in the middle of it all they—well, some of them, at least—had stopped to think of her.

“This is good. This is...really good.”

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I haven't seen anyone else writing Tides fic, and someone's gotta do it, right?


End file.
